Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

cbsnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 123 posts

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#91

Post by loa_in_ »

anovikov wrote: post #82
pessimizer wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A site where AI-driven profiles you contact with, phish or socially-engineer your money out of you? That probably couldn't happen in 2015 let alone 2010, AI tech wasn't yet there. Why do you think you need AI for this? You don't even need Indians for this, Americans will do it. I remember someone showing me a site a couple years ago that recruited for the job, and there was a Reddit where they talked about working…

In a manual mode these days it certainly can't work. People are no longer that gullible. But to think, in 2010 it likely could! So that could be a thing.

People are born every day, the world always runs on the gullible.

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#92

Post by loa_in_ »

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #83
jimnotgym wrote: post #77

Prediction: If they are found guilty, their company will get fined, they will still be rich. This will keep happening unless you a) take back their personal wealth and return it to investors and b) put them in jail & c) black list them from holding office at a corporation in the future.

I dont know. Pre-Trump that is NOT what used to happen in these cases. Defrauding your investors used to actually land rich people in jail.

But it's not investor fraud if it actually makes the company money and is at least somewhat in the gray area.

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#93

Post by loa_in_ »

ariwilson wrote: post #7
trollbridge wrote: post #4

Circa 2010, I met Tai and he wanted some work done for his portfolio of dating websites he had back then. (He had a whole bunch of them targeted to various ethnic groups, religious subgroups and so on.) It became apparent that (a) he had a huge pile of messy PHP, WordPress-based sites, and then (b) expressed contempt for paying $35 an hour for programmers since his opinion was you could get programmers in the third w…

I don't know Tai Lopez and he seems like an asshole based on his public persona but I think you'd be surprised by the number of (especially first generation) millionaires who will negotiate over pennies. The easiest way to have a lot of money is to earn a lot and not spend a lot.

Having money allows you to spend time elsewhere, like cherry picking desperate employees. I know temp agencies that have it as the whole business model. If you aren't desperate you don't fit.

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#94

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

sokoloff wrote: post #72

One of the most painful interviews I recall was Limor Fried (Ladyada) interviewing Tai about RadioShack. https://youtu.be/u8wwBIA8wMw?si=cKWzNq4Qu_nCQcMA I tried to pick out the most painful segments, but it was hard to choose. 6m30s is a strong contender but 28m31s takes the crown for me.

Tracking-free link: https://youtu.be/u8wwBIA8wMw

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#95

Post by sokoloff »

ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #94
sokoloff wrote: post #72

One of the most painful interviews I recall was Limor Fried (Ladyada) interviewing Tai about RadioShack. https://youtu.be/u8wwBIA8wMw?si=cKWzNq4Qu_nCQcMA I tried to pick out the most painful segments, but it was hard to choose. 6m30s is a strong contender but 28m31s takes the crown for me.

Tracking-free link: https://youtu.be/u8wwBIA8wMw

Thank you! Was quickly composed on mobile and I didn't notice it had the tracking salt on it (and it's too late for me to edit the original).

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#96

Post by jimmydddd »

ariwilson wrote: post #7
trollbridge wrote: post #4

Circa 2010, I met Tai and he wanted some work done for his portfolio of dating websites he had back then. (He had a whole bunch of them targeted to various ethnic groups, religious subgroups and so on.) It became apparent that (a) he had a huge pile of messy PHP, WordPress-based sites, and then (b) expressed contempt for paying $35 an hour for programmers since his opinion was you could get programmers in the third w…

I don't know Tai Lopez and he seems like an asshole based on his public persona but I think you'd be surprised by the number of (especially first generation) millionaires who will negotiate over pennies. The easiest way to have a lot of money is to earn a lot and not spend a lot.

A friend is in commercial real estate. If you own office or warehouse space, he finds you a company to rent the space, and help negotiate the deal. Then after the deal is done, the (very wealthy) building owner often will try to re-negotiate down the agreed to fee, or say he'll pay it in four years. The guy works for 6 months getting the deal done, is supposed to get like $25K, then the wealthy building owner says he'll give him $10K and will pay over 4 years. Crazy business.

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#97

Post by anovikov »

55555 wrote: post #88
anovikov wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a manual mode these days it certainly can't work. People are no longer that gullible. But to think, in 2010 it likely could! So that could be a thing.

It still works in manual mode and it is still mostly done manually, despite AI. This is the "chat" model powering 6 billion dollars of annual OnlyFans revenue and billions of dollars to dating sites advertising "girls in your area" on porn sites. Armies of mostly Filipino chatters pretend to be women and do what is essentially a soft romance scam. Governments have essentially never looked into it, despite it having g…

Fun fact: outside of the Anglosphere it's mostly people who pretend to be men, siphoning money off lonely women. Typical fake profile is a handsome American colonel deployed to Iraq (i met several women who flirted with "him" lmao), that was like, 10 years ago.

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#98

Post by reaperducer »

RainyDayTmrw wrote: post #30

As this is a tech forum, I expect that the name that stands out is Radio Shack, and I do agree that that story is tragic. For me, as a long time New Yorker, the other name that stands out is Modell's. They were, for quite a long time, a fixture in New York City and beyond. Even for us not sports inclined, we still knew Modell's as a reliable retailer of sneakers throughout the years. Arguably, their Covid era bankrup…

Your comment makes me wonder what ever happened to Crazy Eddie.

Re: Buyers of Radio Shack, Pier 1 brands accused of running $112M Ponzi scheme

#99

Post by datadrivenangel »

reaperducer wrote: post #98
RainyDayTmrw wrote: post #30

As this is a tech forum, I expect that the name that stands out is Radio Shack, and I do agree that that story is tragic. For me, as a long time New Yorker, the other name that stands out is Modell's. They were, for quite a long time, a fixture in New York City and beyond. Even for us not sports inclined, we still knew Modell's as a reliable retailer of sneakers throughout the years. Arguably, their Covid era bankrup…

Your comment makes me wonder what ever happened to Crazy Eddie.

tax fraud.
Post reply on HN